This Purim, serve hamantaschen for dinner. These savory hamantaschen have a Moroccan-inspired lamb filling and are served with a garlicky yogurt sauce.
Next week brings the Jewish festival of Purim, a carnival holiday where people are encouraged to dress in costume and make merry. Purim commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from ...

Classic eastern European comfort food: homemade egg noodles tossed with braised cabbage and poppy seeds. A perfect vegetarian dinner to honor Queen Esther this Purim.
The Jewish festival of Purim begins at sundown on Wednesday February 28. Purim commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from a murderous plot and therefore is a ...

Celebrate Tu B'Shevat with a sweet and nutritious grain salad made from Biblical ingredients like barley, figs, apple and pomegranate seeds.
Tu B’Shevat is a minor Jewish festival at the beginning of the Biblical agricultural cycle known as the New Year for trees. In ancient times, worshippers brought fruit offerings to the temple on this ...

With Hanukkah approaching, everyone needs a classic potato latke recipe.
On Hanukkah, we celebrate the miracle of how a small amount of olive oil — enough to light the eternal flame for a single day — lasted for eight days, giving our ancestors enough time to make new oil and rededicate the temple that had been destroyed by Greek ...

The perfect holiday stuffing made with rich challah, crunchy apples and sweet honey. A Jewish take on stuffing!
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but I have time to give you one more recipe before you have to start cooking. So far, this month, we have talked turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish, vegetables and, naturally, dessert, ...

Get global inspiration for pumpkin season with these savory baked pumpkin pastries, known as pumpkin bishak -- a specialty of Jews from Central Asia!
This fall, I want to introduce you all to some new ways to use pumpkin -- particularly in savory dishes because I think it is easy to use pumpkin in sweets. First, I shared a recipe for ...

For autumn Jewish holidays like Sukkot and Simchat Torah, a festive and seasonal meal of traditional cheese blintzes smothered in sautéed apples and dried cranberries.
This week marks the end of the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot and also the holiday of Simchat Torah, a celebration of ending one and beginning another annual cycle of ...

Shake up your pumpkin with chershi kara'a, a tangy, spicy pumpkin spread that comes from Libyan Jews and is now a favorite among Israelis. So easy to make!
After making pumpkin pie last week, I had approximately three cups of pumpkin purée left over. I debated about what to do with it. Pumpkin bread? Pumpkin pancakes? Pumpkin whoopie pies? ...

Break your Yom Kippur fast with basbousa, a simple, elegant semolina cake soaked in a sweet syrup, a tradtional favorite of Egyptian Jews.
Yom Kippur begins this Friday at sundown. The most solemn day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur is marked by fasting, prayer and contemplation. At the end of the long day, during which observant Jews ...

A vegetarian entree for Rosh Hashanah and other fall holidays, Couscous with Seven Vegetables is colorful and healthy way to celebrate the harvest and usher in a new year!
Seven is an especially lucky number in many cultures, including Judaism. The world was created in seven days. The seventh day is Shabbat. Together, there are seven ...

Saffron-colored pumpkin challah with sweet cinnamon honey butter will be the hit of your Rosh Hashanah celebration!
Fall is pumpkin season and Rosh Hashanah is a fall holiday. So pumpkin dishes on a Rosh Hashanah menu is a no-brainer. Indeed, pumpkin is a traditional food for Rosh Hashanah, especially among Sephardic Jews, but not only ...

Leek patties, or keftes de prasa, are a classic Sephardic holiday dish. This vegetarian version is a perfect appetizer for your Rosh Hashanah table.
Keftes de prasa, or leek fritters is one of those dishes that is beloved throughout the Sephardic world, especially Turkey, Greece and Romania, but little known in America, where most Jews are ...

Quick-cooking chicken thighs in a sweet-tart honey and lime juice glaze. Easy enough for a weeknight but special enough for Rosh Hashanah.
When planning the menu for your Jewish holiday meal, it's easy just to say "brisket" for the main course and be done with it. My family certainly expects me to serve brisket for Hanukkah...and ...

A striking fall salad of roasted carrots and beets with creamy burrata and hazelnuts. Perfect for entertaining, a light lunch or as part of your Rosh Hashanah celebration.
The combination of roasted beets and burrata has got a hold on me and it won't let go. A few days ago, I posted a recipe for roasted beets, blackberries and burrata over ...

Fresh figs are such a gift! Here I place black and green figs atop a honey-sweetened mascarpone filling and fold them into a flaky galette. Perfect for early fall parties or Rosh Hashanah dinner!
Every year, I feel a little giddy when I spy fresh figs in the grocery store because they are such a short-lived, seasonal treat. Did you know that ...

A beautiful and balanced early fall salad with earthy beets, creamy burrata and tart blackberries over arugula in a honey vinaigrette. Perfect for your Rosh Hashanah table!
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, begins at sundown on September 20. Like many new year celebrations, it is joyous and festive. All over the world, Jews will gather ...

What does Mom want for Mother's Day brunch? I'm pretty sure it's cheese blintzes: paper-thin crêpes filled with lightly sweetened ricotta cheese and topped with a strawberry-rhubarb compote.
Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 14, and everyone wants to surprise Mom with a special breakfast. In my mind, no breakfast is more special than cheese ...

Matzo chocolate bark is a special Passover treat. Imagine matzo drenched in toffee and chocolate and topped with dried fruits, nuts and pumpkin seeds. My family looks forward to this all year!
This is not exactly breaking news but if you cover something, anything, in enough toffee and chocolate, it will taste good. Hence, matzo chocolate ...

Schmaltz or rendered chicken fat is a must for traditional Ashkenazi Jewish foods like matzo balls or chopped liver. Learn how to make your own!
I have many quirky kitchen habits, but I am about to confess to you one the quirkiest: I collect chicken fat. Whenever I make a whole roast chicken, before I cook the bird, I cut off all the visible ...

Tender, melt-in-your-mouth brisket is the perfect main course for your Passover seder. Best of all? You can prepare it in advance!
Have you planned the menu for your Passover seder? My family will only let me vary the menu so much. They want all their traditional favorites: Matzo ball soup; my mother-in-law's sweet charoset and, of ...

Delicious, lemony, jam-filled hamantaschen for Purim!
This week brings the Jewish festival of Purim, a carnival holiday where people are encouraged to dress in costume and make merry. Purim commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from an evil government minister, named Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish community in ancient ...

This post is sponsored by Venta Airwasher. As always, all opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.
The first night of Hanukkah is almost here and this year, for the first time in my life, I am confident that my house won't smell like the fried potato pancakes, or latkes, that we eat on Hanukkah for days afterwards. Why? Because I have ...

Has holiday baking season officially begun? I declare that it has. If, like me, you are planning to give edible gifts this holiday season, you have to start sooner rather than later or else your kitchen will become a round-the-clock production facility.
There are countless kinds of Christmas cookies from Swedish gingersnaps to German lekuchen to ...

So much of my Rosh Hashanah menu is set in stone. We have to start the meal with kreplach in chicken soup. The main course is brisket obviously. And a beautiful braided round challah is the centerpiece of the table.
But what about dessert? I have never quite found the Rosh Hashanah dessert. The one I want to serve year after year. The ...

I am not trying to freak you out, but do you realize that the High Holidays are right around the corner? Rosh Hashanah is a week from Monday. A week from Monday, people! Okay, maybe I am trying to freak you out.
I am more than a little freaked out myself because I have so much to do between now and October 2, which is Erev Rosh Hashanah, or the ...